Page 44 of Autumn Queens & Shadows

“Now you’re acting like a dog.”

“Snow, where are you going?”

She stopped and the look she threw me over the shoulder almost made me recoil. Guilt mixed with harrowing pain laid there. And the more I looked, the more thankful I was that she had no shadows at all for me to see or feel. “Memphis chewed on some stupid daffodils and now has a bad stomach. I’m heading down to the healers to get her something while your brother is rubbing her belly.”

“I’ll come with.”

“It’s just down the corridor, you don’t—”

“I’ll come with you, Snow. It’s late and my brother should have known better than to send you alone.”

She walked beside me. “Nothing will happen to me, Mal. I’m safe here. You know it, too.”

“Yeah. I know it.”

Chapter eleven

Amber Daffodils

Thora

Cai leaned against the stable doors, blocking my way to my horse, arms crossed over his chest as he stared at the surprisingly blue skies, looking very determined to interrupt my morning ride through Tenebrose. It had been a long while since we’d spoken to one another. Even when we had met, there had not been much to say.

“You can’t just never return to Olympia,” he said. “One day, you’ll have to come back. You can’t keep avoiding me because I remind you of it either.”

It. One of the worst moments of my life did not have a name. It was just simply…it. “I am not avoiding you, Cai.”

He finally looked at me and raised a brow. “Or blaming me why your brother left?”

“I’ve never blamed you for that.”

“Why not?” he asked, pushing off the wall and striding to me. “It is the truth.”

“He is not the first to leave me, and I suspect he won’t be the last. Are you here for Alaric’s monthly checks? You usually don’t engage me in conversation. Or make your presence aware at all.”

“You’ve seen me?”

“Were you trying to hide?”

He smirked at that. “Shouldn’t you be angry?”

“I am angry.”

His smile turned into a wide grin. “And I’m still intact.”

“I’m not Snow.”

“No, you’re not.” He shot a quick look behind me. “I’m actually scared of you.”

“When you are tired playing lackey for Alaric, find me. I can get you a much nicer position in my court.”

He flashed me a wolfish grin. “Are you going to offer me to be your king? Which, I am still really hurt about by the way. Why wasn’t I considered? I’d make us the most handsome pair of royals in the realm.”

“Because you don’t want to marry me and marrying you would hurt someone.”

Something flashed in his eyes. “And marrying Mal won’t hurt someone?”

“Yes. It will hurt him. And he will soon make a run for it, while you could never escape me.”